The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for forming patterned landing zones, as well as servo patterns, in substrates for magnetic recording media utilized in high areal and high track density applications, and to magnetic recording media produced thereby. The invention has particular utility in the manufacture of magnetic data/information storage and retrieval media, e.g., hard disks, utilizing conventional metal-based substrate materials, e.g., of Al or an Al alloy, as well as very hard surfaced, high modulus substrates, e.g., of glass, ceramic, and glass-ceramic materials.
Magnetic recording media are widely used in various applications, particularly in the computer industry. A portion of a conventional recording medium 1 utilized in disk form in computer-related applications is schematically depicted in FIG. 1 and comprises a non-magnetic substrate 10, typically of metal, e.g., an aluminum-magnesium (Alxe2x80x94Mg) alloy, having sequentially deposited thereon a plating layer 11, such as of amorphous nickel-phosphorus (NiP), a polycrystalline underlayer 12, typically of chromium (Cr) or a Cr-based alloy, a magnetic layer 13, e.g., of a cobalt (Co)-based alloy, a protective overcoat layer 14, typically containing carbon (C), e.g., diamond-like carbon (xe2x80x9cDLCxe2x80x9d), and a lubricant topcoat layer 15, typically of a perfluoropolyether compound applied by dipping, spraying, etc.
In operation of medium 1, the magnetic layer 13 can be locally magnetized by a write transducer or write head, to record and store data/information. The write transducer creates a highly concentrated magnetic field which alternates direction based on the bits of information being stored. When the local magnetic field produced by the write transducer is greater than the coercivity of the recording medium layer 13, then the grains of the polycrystalline medium at that location are magnetized. The grains retain their magnetization after the magnetic field produced by the write transducer is removed. The direction of the magnetization matches the direction of the applied magnetic field. The pattern of magnetization of the recording medium can subsequently produce an electrical response in a read transducer, allowing the stored medium to be read.
Thin film magnetic recording media are conventionally employed in disk form for use with disk drives for storing large amounts of data in magnetizable form. Typically, one or more disks are rotated on a central axis in combination with data transducer heads. In operation, a typical contact start/stop (xe2x80x9cCSSxe2x80x9d) method commences when the head begins to slide against the surface of the disk as the disk begins to rotate. Upon reaching a predetermined high rotational speed, the head floats in air at a predetermined distance from the surface of the disk due to dynamic pressure effects caused by the air flow generated between the sliding surface of the head and the disk. During reading and recording operations, the transducer head is maintained at a controlled distance from the recording surface, supported on a bearing of air as the disk rotates, such that the head can be freely moved in both the circumferential and radial directions, allowing data to be recorded on and retrieved from the disk at a desired position. Upon terminating operation of the disk drive, the rotational speed of the disk decreases and the head again begins to slide against the surface of the disk and eventually stops in contact with and pressing against the disk. Thus, the transducer head contacts the recording surface whenever the disk is stationary, accelerated from the static position, and during deceleration just prior to completely stopping. Each time the head and disk assembly is driven, the sliding surface of the head repeats the cyclic sequence consisting of stopping, sliding against the surface of the disk, floating in air, sliding against the surface of the disk, and stopping.
The air bearing design for the head slider/transducer utilized for CSS-type operation as described above provides an interface between the slider and the disk which prevents damage to the disk over the life of the disk/slider/transducer head system, and provides damping in the event the disk drive system undergoes mechanical shock due to vibrations of external origin. The air bearing also provides the desired spacing between the transducer and the disk surface. A bias force is applied to the slider by a flexure armature in a direction toward the disk surface. This bias force is counter-acted by lifting forces from the air bearing until an equilibrium state is achieved. The slider will contact the disk surface if the rotating speed of the disk is insufficient to cause the slider to xe2x80x9cflyxe2x80x9d, as during start-up and shut-down phases of the CSS cycle. If the slider contacts a data region of the disk, the data may be lost and the disk permanently damaged.
Referring now to FIG. 2, shown therein in perspective view, is a conventionally configured magnetic hard disk 30 having a CSS (i.e., xe2x80x9clandingxe2x80x9d) zone 36 and a data (i.e., recording) zone 40. More specifically, FIG. 2 illustrates an annularly-shaped magnetic hard disk 30 including an inner diameter 32 and an outer diameter 34. Adjacent to the inner diameter is an annularly-shaped, inner CSS or xe2x80x9clandingxe2x80x9d zone 36 (however, the landing zone 36 may, in other instances, be located adjacent the outer diameter 34). When disk 30 is operated in conjunction with a magnetic transducer head (not shown in the drawing), the CSS or xe2x80x9clandingxe2x80x9d zone 36 is the region where the head makes contact with the disk surface during the above-described start-stop cycles or other intermittent occurrences. In FIG. 2, the radially outer edge of the CSS or xe2x80x9clandingxe2x80x9d zone 36 is indicated by line 38, which is the boundary between CSS zone 36 and data zone 40 where information in magnetic form is stored within the magnetic recording medium layer of disk 30.
It is generally considered desirable for reliably and predictably performing reading and recording operations, and essential for obtaining high areal density magnetic recording, that the transducer head be maintained as close to the disk surface as possible in order to minimize its flying height. Thus, a smooth disk surface is preferred, as well as a smooth opposing surface of the transducer head, thereby permitting the head and the disk to be positioned in very close proximity, with an attendant increase in predictability and consistent behavior of the air bearing supporting the transducer head during motion. However, if the head surface and the recording surface are too flat, the precision match of these surfaces gives rise to friction and xe2x80x9cstictionxe2x80x9d at the disk surface which causes the transducer head to adhere to the surface, particularly after periods of non-use, thereby making it more difficult for the transducer head to initiate movement therefrom. Excessive stiction and friction during the start-up and stopping phases of the above-described cyclic sequence causes wear of the transducer and disk surfaces, eventually leading to what is referred to as xe2x80x9chead crashxe2x80x9d. Another drawback associated with smooth disk surfaces is lack of durability resulting from the very small amount of lubricant which is retained thereon. Thus, there are competing goals of minimizing transducer head flying height (as by the use of smooth surfaces) and reducing transducer head/disk friction (as by avoiding use of smooth surfaces).
Conventional practices for addressing these apparent competing objectives include providing at least the CSS or xe2x80x9clandingxe2x80x9d zone of the magnetic disk recording medium with a roughened surface to reduce transducer head/disk friction and stiction by a number of different techniques generally known as xe2x80x9ctexturingxe2x80x9d. Referring again to FIG. 1, current texturing techniques (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,062,021 and 5,108,781) include, inter alia, circumferential polishing and localized laser heating of the surface of the disk substrate 10 (e.g., of Alxe2x80x94Mg alloy) to create thereon a texture pattern comprising a plurality of spaced apart projections (xe2x80x9cbumpsxe2x80x9d) prior to deposition thereon of a layer stack comprised of plating layer 12, polycrystalline seed or underlayer 12, magnetic layer 13, protective overcoat 14, and lubricant topcoat 15, wherein the textured surface of the underlying disk substrate 10 is substantially replicated in the subsequently deposited, overlying layers. According to such methodology, by providing a textured surface in at least the CSS or xe2x80x9clandingxe2x80x9d zone, the transducer head is able to rest and slide on the peaks of the projections or xe2x80x9cbumpsxe2x80x9d during starting and stopping, thereby reducing the area of contact between the transducer head and the magnetic medium. As a consequence of the reduced area of contact in the CSS or xe2x80x9clandingxe2x80x9d zone, the amount of force necessary to initiate movement of the transducer head is considerably reduced. An additional advantage provided by the textured disk surface is the ability to retain a greater amount of lubricant, thereby further increasing disk durability by reducing friction and stiction.
A variety of possible configurations of the textured surface approach for reducing stiction and friction between the transducer head and the disk surface are possible, including texturing only the CSS or xe2x80x9clandingxe2x80x9d zone, wherein specular smoothness of the data zone is retained for permitting high bit density recording by allowing for very low head flying height; texturing the entire disk surface, i.e., the CSS and data zones, whereby friction and stiction reduction is provided in the data zone in addition to the CSS zone; and separately (i.e., differently) textured CSS and data zones, with and without a transition zone between the differently textured zones. wherein the texturing is optimized for each type of zone to maximize both recording characteristics and mechanical durability.
As indicated above, current methodology for selective texturing of the CSS or landing zone of disk-shaped recording media utilizes localized laser heating of the substrate surface to effect melting of the substrate material, which upon re-solidification results in the formation of protrusions, termed xe2x80x9claser bumpsxe2x80x9d on the disk surface. The bumps dramatically reduce the real area of contact over that which is obtained in the absence of the bumps, which reduced area of contact has a significant impact on the stiction and friction behavior of the head-disk interface. However, texturing of the CSS or landing zone according to the conventional laser texturing process entails a number of disadvantages, including:
(1) currently available lasers cannot texture glass or glass-based substrates, and a sizable capital investment would be required to develop and manufacture lasers and laser systems suitable for rapid, economical (i.e., cost-effective) texturing of glass or glass-based substrates;
(2) the xe2x80x9claser bumpsxe2x80x9d produced according to conventional laser-based methodology protrude from the disk surface, which protrusions can interfere with the operation of the flying head at very small head-disk spacings;
(3) laser texturing performed according to conventional practices results in a reduction in the width of the recording band by several tens of mils, due to the inherent mechanical xe2x80x9cslopxe2x80x9d of the laser texture process; and
(4) the laser texture is not precisely aligned with the data tracks because the latter are not written at the same time the laser bumps are formed, which lack of precise alignment limit the width of the recording band.
Also as indicated above, disk drives typically comprise a magnetic head assembly mounted on the end of a support or actuator arm which positions the head radially over the disk surface. If the actuator arm is held stationary, the magnetic head assembly will pass over a circular path on the disk surface known as a track, and information can be read from or written to that track. Each concentric track has a unique radius, and reading and writing information from or to a specific track requires the magnetic head to be located above the track. By moving the actuator arm, the magnetic head assembly is moved radially over the disk surface between tracks.
The disk drive must be able to differentiate between tracks on the disk and to center the magnetic head over any particular track. Most disk drives use embedded xe2x80x9cservo patternsxe2x80x9d of magnetically recorded information on the disk. The servo patterns are read by the magnetic head assembly to inform the disk drive of the track location. Tracks typically include both data sectors and servo patterns. Each data sector contains a header followed by a data section. The header may include synchronization information to synchronize various timers in the disk drive to the speed of disk rotation, while the data section is used for recording data. Typical servo patterns are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,961, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Servo patterns are usually written on the disk during manufacture of the disk drive, after the drive is assembled and operational. The servo pattern information, and particularly the track spacing and centering information, needs to be located very precisely on the disk surface. However, at the time the servo patterns are written, there are no reference locations on the disk surface which can be perceived by the disk drive. Accordingly, a highly specialized device known as a xe2x80x9cservo-writerxe2x80x9d is used during writing of the servo-patterns. Largely because of the locational precision needed, servo-writers are expensive, and servo-writing is a time-consuming process.
A process for forming servo patterns involves use of standard lithographic techniques to remove magnetic material from the magnetic recording layer or by creating recessed zones or valleys in the substrate prior to deposition of the magnetic material. In the former case, the magnetic recording material is etched or ion milled through a resist mask to leave a system of valleys which are void of magnetic material. In the latter case, the magnetic film, which is applied to the textured substrate including recessed zones or valleys, is spaced far enough away from the recording head such that the magnetic flux emanating from the recording head does not sufficiently write the magnetic medium. Servo track information is conveyed by utilizing the difference in magnetic flux at the boundary between the elevated portions and the valleys of the pattern. However, the lithographic processing required for patterning disadvantageously incurs considerable expense inconsistent with the requirements of cost-effective mass production of disk media.
An approach (utilized by Sony Corp. in the manufacture of xe2x80x9cPERMxe2x80x9d disks) designed to avoid traditional servo-writing has been to injection mold or stamp servo patterns on a polymer-based substrate disk. A constant thickness layer of magnetic recording material is then applied over the entire disk surface, including the depressions and protrusions of the servo patterns. After all of the constituent layers of the medium have been applied to the disk, a magnetic bias is recorded on the servo patterns. For example, a first magnetic field may magnetically initialize the entire disk at a one setting. Then a second magnetic field, located at the surface of the disk and e.g., provided by the magnetic head of the disk drive, is used to magnetize the protruding portions of the servo patterns relative to the depressions. Because the protrusions are closer than the depressions to the magnetic initialization, the magnetization carried by the protrusions may be different than the magnetization carried by the depressions. When read, the resulting disk servo patterns show magnetic transitions between the depressions and the protrusions.
Meanwhile, the continuing trend toward manufacture of very high areal density magnetic recording media at reduced cost provides impetus for the development of lower cost materials, e.g., polymers, glass, ceramics, and glass-ceramics composites as replacements for the conventional Al alloy-based substrates for magnetic disk media. However, poor mechanical and tribological performance, track mis-registration (xe2x80x9cTMRxe2x80x9d), and poor flyability have been particularly problematic in the case of polymer-based substrates fabricated as to essentially copy or mimic conventional hard disk design features and criteria. On the other hand, glass, ceramic, or glass-ceramic materials are attractive candidates for use as substrates for very high areal density disk recording media because of the requirements for high performance of the anisotropic thin film media and high modulus of the substrate. However, the extreme difficulties encountered with grinding and lapping of glass, ceramic, and glass-ceramic composite materials have limited their use to applications requiring more robust disk drives, such as mobile disk drives for xe2x80x9cnotebookxe2x80x9d-type computers.
Attempts to achieve a desired surface topography on glass, ceramic, or glass-ceramic composite substrates, whether for the data or landing zones, have been unsuccessful due to their extreme hardness (e.g., glass substrates have a Knoop hardness greater than about 760 kg/mm2 compared with about 550 kg/mm2 for Al alloy substrates with NiP plating layers). In addition, the low flowability and extreme hardness of these substrate materials effectively precludes formation of CSS landing zone patterns and servo patterns in the surfaces thereof by injection molding or stamping, as has been performed with polymer-based substrates.
In view of the above, there exists a need for improved methodology and means for rapidly, accurately, and cost-effectively texturing the surfaces of disk substrates for magnetic recording media, which substrates may be constituted of conventional metal-based materials, such as Al-based alloys, or of very hard materials, such as of glass, glass-ceramic, or ceramic, wherein at least one surface of the disk is provided with a patterned CSS or landing zone for optimizing tribological properties when utilized with flying head read/write transducers/heads operating at very low flying heights, and wherein the data zone of the disk is provided with a servo pattern. More specifically, there exists a need for an improved means and methodology for mechanically impressing patterns, e.g., landing zone patterns, as well as servo patterns, by embossing a surface of a substrate for a magnetic recording medium, which substrate may be comprised of a conventional metal-based material or of a very hard material, such as a glass, ceramic, or glass-ceramic composite material. In addition, there exists a need for improved, high areal density magnetic recording media including a substrate having a CSS or landing zone and servo patterns integrally formed therewith, as by embossing.
An advantage of the present invention is an improved method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium including a substrate having a landing zone with a pattern of recesses formed therein by embossing.
Another advantage of the present invention is an improved method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium including a high modulus substrate having a glass or glass-like layer formed on a surface thereof, wherein the surface of the glass or glass-like layer comprises a landing zone having a pattern of recesses formed therein by embossing.
Still another advantage of the present invention is an improved method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium wherein a pattern of recesses is formed in a landing zone of a substrate surface by embossing, and a servo pattern is simultaneously embossed in a data zone of the substrate surface.
A further advantage of the present invention is an improved magnetic recording medium including a substrate with a landing zone having an embossed recess pattern formed therein for providing improved tribological properties when utilized with transducer heads at sub-micron flying heights.
A still further advantage of the present invention is an improved magnetic recording medium comprised of a high modulus substrate including a sintered glass or glass-like layer formed thereon and having an embossed pattern of recesses formed in a landing zone of the medium.
A yet further advantage of the present invention is an improved magnetic medium comprising a substrate including a surface with a landing zone having an embossed pattern of recesses formed therein and a data zone with an embossed servo pattern formed therein.
Another advantage of the present invention is a stamper having a surface configured for embossing a recess pattern in the surface of a landing zone on the surface of a substrate for a magnetic recording medium.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is a stamper having a surface configured for simultaneously embossing a recess pattern in a landing zone and a servo pattern in a data zone of a substrate for a magnetic recording medium.
Additional advantages and other aspects and features of the present invention will be set forth in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from the practice of the present invention. The advantages of the present invention may be realized and obtained as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the foregoing and other advantages are obtained in part by a method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium, comprising:
(a) providing a non-magnetic substrate for a magnetic medium, the substrate including at least-one major surface having a contact start/stop (CSS) or landing zone and a data zone; and
(b) forming a pattern of recesses in the substrate surface in the CSS or landing zone by embossing utilizing a stamper having a surface including a negative image pattern of the pattern of recesses.
According to embodiments of the present invention, step (a) comprises providing an annular disk-shaped substrate wherein the CSS or landing zone comprises an annularly-shaped zone adjacent an inner or outer diameter of the disk and the data zone comprises an annularly-shaped zone radially adjacent the CSS or landing zone; and step (b) comprises forming a rectangularly- or sinusoidally-shaped pattern of recesses.
In accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention, step (b) comprises forming a rectangularly-shaped pattern of recesses, wherein each of the dimensions of the rectangles of the pattern is in the range of from about 0.1 to about 10 xcexcm and the depth of each of the recesses is in the range of from about 10 to about 200 xc3x85; or step (b) comprises forming a sinusoidally-shaped pattern of recesses, wherein the peak-to-peak spacings of adjacent recesses is in the range of from about 0.1 to about 10 xcexcm and the depth of each of the recesses is in the range of from 10 to about 200 xc3x85.
According to embodiments of the present invention, step (a) comprises providing a substrate comprised of a material selected from the group consisting of Al, Al/NiP, Al-based alloys, other metals, other metal alloys, polymers, and polymer-based materials, or a high modulus, hard-surfaced substrate selected from the group consisting of glass, ceramics, and glass-ceramics.
According to particular embodiments of the present invention, step (a) comprises providing a glass, ceramics, or glass-ceramics substrate, wherein step (a) further comprises forming a sol-gel layer on at least the substrate surface in said CSS or landing zone, the sol-gel layer having a surface which is softer than the substrate surface; and step (b) comprises embossing the pattern of recesses in the surface of the sol-gel layer, wherein step (b) further comprises converting the embossed sol-gel layer to a glass or glass-like layer including the pattern of recesses in the surface thereof.
In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, step (a) comprises forming a sol-gel layer comprising a porous layer of SiO2 containing water and at least one solvent in the pores thereof; and step (b) comprises converting the sol-gel layer to the glass or glass-like layer by sintering at a temperature of from about 300 to above about 1000xc2x0 C.
According to further embodiments of the present invention, step (b) comprises simultaneously forming the pattern of recesses in the substrate surface in the CSS or landing zone and forming a servo pattern in the substrate surface in the data zone; and step (b) comprises embossing utilizing a stamper having a surface including negative image patterns of the pattern of recesses and the servo pattern.
In accordance with further embodiments of the present invention, the method further comprises the step of:
(c) forming a stack of thin film layers over at least the substrate surface in the data zone, the stack of layers including at least one ferromagnetic recording layer.
Another aspect of the present invention is a magnetic recording medium, comprising:
a non-magnetic substrate including at least one major surface having a contact start/stop (CSS) or landing zone and a data zone, the substrate surface in the CSS or landing zone comprising an embossed pattern of recesses.
According to embodiments of the present invention, the substrate is annular disk-shaped, the CSS or landing zone comprises an annularly-shaped zone adjacent an inner or outer diameter of the disk, and the data zone comprises an annularly-shaped zone radially adjacent the CSS or landing zone.
In accordance with particular embodiments of the present invention, the pattern of recesses comprises a plurality of rectangularly-shaped recesses, wherein each of the dimensions of the rectangles of the pattern is in the range of from about 0.1 to about 10 xcexcm and the depth of each of the recesses is in the range of from about 10 to about 200 xc3x85; whereas, according to other particular embodiments of the invention, the pattern of recesses comprises a plurality of sinusoidally-shaped recesses, wherein the peak-to-peak spacings of adjacent recesses is in the range of from about 0.1 to about 10 xcexcm and the depth of each of the recesses is in the range of from 10 to about 200 xc3x85.
Embodiments of the present invention include media wherein the substrate is comprised of a material selected from the group consisting of Al, Al/NiP, Al-based alloys, other metals, other metal alloys, polymers, and polymer-based materials, or a high modulus, hard-surfaced substrate selected from the group consisting of glass, ceramics, and glass-ceramics.
According to particular embodiments of the present invention, the substrate comprises glass, ceramics, and glass-ceramics and further includes a glass or glass-like layer on at least the substrate surface in the CSS or landing zone, the glass or glass-like layer being derived from a sol-gel layer and including a surface with the pattern of recesses formed therein; whereas, according to further embodiments of the invention, the substrate surface in the data zone comprises an embossed servo pattern.
Media fabricated according to the present invention further comprise a stack of thin film layers formed over at least the substrate surface in the data zone, the stack of layers including at least one ferromagnetic recording layer.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is a stamper for embossing at least one pattern of recesses in a surface of a substrate for a magnetic recording medium, the substrate surface including spaced-apart landing and data zones, the stamper comprising:
(a) a main body including a surface; and
(b) means for embossing a pattern of recesses in the landing zone of the substrate surface.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the stamper further comprises:
(c) means for simultaneously embossing a servo pattern in said data zone of said substrate surface.
Additional advantages and aspects of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein embodiments of the present invention are shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated for practicing the present invention. As will be described, the present invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are susceptible of modification in various obvious respects. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as limitative.